Welcome to the spring edition of Abbeydale News. In this issue we are profiling one of our management trainers and summarising the way she approached a client’s staff development problem.

Melanie Windle

Melanie is an experienced and creative personal development trainer and group facilitator whose methods and style of delivery empower individuals and groups to realise their potential. 
She is a skilled team worker, leader and effective manager who enjoys the challenge and responsibility of working for the development of others. Her clients include Public, Private and Voluntary sector organisations.
 
Types of courses delivered include personal effectiveness and assertiveness, team building, leadership, Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) courses, facilitated visioning and planning, problem solving and analytical thinking; trainer training, motivation, planning and organisational skills, customer care, supervision and appraisals, presentation skills; effective meetings, time management, influencing and negotiation; managing change, communication skills; report writing skills; coaching and mentoring; and recruitment and selection interview skills. 

The methods of delivery are designed to meet the client's needs and learning objectives.  These can include practical exercises, use of the outdoors, business simulations, residential training, role-plays, presentations, and individual and group reviews. 
 
Case study  
This is an example of exploring an initial issue presented and creating an outcome that will have a constructive outcome for both sides; with no blame being apportioned and creating a practical skill set for use generally in the workplace.

The client is a local branch of a nationally recognised charity.  They requested some training that they titled ‘Conflict Resolution in the Workplace’ because there was an increase of staff members taking out grievances against their managers.  It was initially thought that as there seemed to be conflict between staff and managers then there was a need for those managers to have training in conflict resolution and an understanding of the correct procedure for handling grievances.

Through detailed discussion and exploring the issues behind the increased conflict an alternative course was proposed for them.  It was identified that if there was conflict present then some change was necessary in the way managers handles this.  Focusing on the grievance or disciplinary routes does not necessarily deal with the cause. The emphasis was to be on building up the skills and confidence of the managers as effective leaders and to develop constructive supervision skills.  Hence the course became ‘Managing Successful Teams’ 

Following this the staff are provided with training in assertion skills in general and specifically related to taking responsibility for their contribution to the supervision sessions.  This course was titled ‘Building Confidence Through Assertion’. 

Managing Successful Teams - for Managers
• To understand and recognise the skills of an effective manager/leader.
• To define the characteristics of a successful team, creating and maintaining one.
• To use communication effectively to enhance supervision and overall performance.

Building Confidence Through Assertion - for Staff
• To identify and understand aggressive, passive and assertive behaviours.
• To develop skills and strategies that will enable an assertive approach to situations.
• To recognise current assertive practices and build upon these in a constructive, achievable way to build self-confidence.

Contact us if you would like additional details on these courses or would like to speak to Melanie about other training issues.